


tell me you're real and tell me you're here

by Felilla



Series: She-Ra: Magic of the Universe [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Hurt Adora (She-Ra), Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Panic Attacks, Post-Canon, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) Season 5 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:27:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24208948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Felilla/pseuds/Felilla
Summary: Adora had been here in this exact moment. In the Heart.{Takes place about three years after the main storyline - SPOILERS}
Relationships: Adora & Bow & Glimmer (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Catra & Glimmer (She-Ra)
Series: She-Ra: Magic of the Universe [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1747318
Comments: 43
Kudos: 1532





	tell me you're real and tell me you're here

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place in a series of one-shots that take place over the years after the defeat of Horde Prime. It will follow the Best Friend Squad during their lives and how they deal with everything afterwards. It will not be in any particular order.

It was warm. Summer did that, Adora knew that. Though now there was the cool air of the fountains around the room, a breeze from the open balcony doors. It helped that her long white gown was a thinner fabric, smooth and soft, it felt like water against her skin. Sleeveless and comfortable with a long cloak. Hair loose down her back with her tiara perched upon it. That part was a little less comfortable. She always felt a bit… Wrong in a tiara without being She-Ra.

In the Fright Zone, the summers had been ruthlessly hot. Adora could still feel the sweat clinging to her skin if she thought about it enough. Could smell the sharp tang of rusted metal and oil. Hear the background clatter of Horde troops.

She wondered if those memories would ever leave her. If peace in the universe would also bring complete peace to her heart.

Adora raised her gaze to her reflection in the waterfall. And startled. Her fingers curled into a fist.

“Just let me brush it!”

Adora turned at the sound of Glimmer’s voice and the door opening.

“No!” Catra’s voice rang out clearly through their room as she raced in, Glimmer on her tail. She knocked Glimmer’s hand and the brush away with a laugh in her voice. “Don’t let he touch me. She’s going to torture me.”

Adora went still as Catra and Glimmer circled around her. They looked as they had only a few minutes before. Glimmer’s dress trailed behind her, her short hair framing her soft face. She’d gained about an inch over the years, but not much.

And Catra, dressed darker than any of them, but with the white and gold cloak Adora gifted her. Her hair was pulled up in her ponytail and distantly, Adora wondered how Glimmer intended to brush her hair when it was already as tamed as it had ever been.

They were smiles and laughter, but all Adora could do was stare. Because she had been here once before. In the Heart. Her own heart thudded painfully in her chest.

“Do you always have to be this dramatic?” Glimmer asked, her hands on her hips.

Catra leaned up against Adora. She was a familiar warmth, but this time, it did nothing to ground Adora. It only served to make her heart pound harder.

“Come on, guys,” Bow strolled into the room, in his full party regalia. The growing facial hair had been a choice that only Glimmer seemed fond of. “If we’re late to Scorpia’s first ball, she’s gonna kill us.”

When his hand came to rest on Glimmer’s shoulder, she immediately leaned back into him. It was instinct. Adora had seen them do it a million times over the past three years. But it was no less jarring in the moment.

“Fine!” Glimmer sighed and squinted at Catra. “You’re off the hook. This time.”

Adora’s gaze shifted to Catra behind her, glaring at Glimmer. But the look held no malice. It hadn’t in years. A second later, she stuck her tongue out playfully.

Glimmer and Bow shared a look before making their way out of the room. Their tones were low and hushed and Glimmer giggled in her hand. After squeezing Adora’s shoulder, Catra followed. She stopped, likely noticing that Adora wasn’t following. Her smile was gentle, warm, beautiful. A smile Adora had seen a million times and would do anything to see a million times more. “You coming?” she asked, extending a hand.

_ A beautiful wish. _

Adora took a step back, her breath hitching. Catra’s soft expression shifted to concern as her ears twitched towards Adora. “Adora?” she dropped her hand with her smile. “Love, are you okay?”

This was  _ stupid _ . Adora had experienced the last three years leading up to this moment. She had seen Catra with a ponytail everyday for the past six months. She’d known that Scorpia was having her first ball today. She knew that this was real, but some distant part of her mind wondered if everything,  _ everything _ had just been an illusion of the Heart.

She sat down heavily on the edge of the fountain. With a shuddering sigh, she buried her face into her hands. A hand settled on her knee. A familiar hand. She looked up, finding Catra kneeling in front of her. Her partner’s expression was still soft. 

If Adora looked hard enough, she could find the little changes that had occurred over the years. There was a scar nicking the edge of her left eye, an unfortunate accident from another planet. Her fur had started lightening near her ears. Adora had seen Catra fretting over it in front of the mirror that morning.

They were both very young, barely twenty-one, but they both knew that the years would not be kind to them. How could it? They’d been embroiled in war since they were old enough to toddle. It hadn’t ended with the defeat of Horde Prime. Not really. Bringing peace and magic to the universe had been a bit harder than they anticipated.

But they managed it. Like they managed everything.

And now, three years later, they were going to Scorpia’s kingdom, to the former Fright Zone, to celebrate the anniversary of Horde Prime’s end. Everyone was going to be there and just that morning, Adora had been so,  _ so _ excited to attend. To see everyone. To finally meet Spinerella and Netossa’s twins. To listen to Entrapta ramble on and on about her newest gadgets as Hordak smiled down at her.

To see what had become of the place she had once called home. Were the nooks and crannies she and Catra used to wedge themselves in still there? Or had all of it been wiped away, replaced with a peaceful land ruled by the kindest of them all.

How could all of those years have been an illusion?

Still, the pit of doubt sat heavily in her stomach.

“Adora?” Catra’s hand slowly came up to cup Adora’s cheek. “What’s wrong?”

Adora caught her wrist, moved her hand. She studied the palm that she knew better than her own. “Are you really here?” she asked quietly, wincing when she said it. It sounded silly when she said it out loud.

“Of course I am,” Catra tilted her head in that feline-like way she had. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

“I just-” Adora groaned, curling into herself. Catra’s other hand moved to interlock with Adora’s. “I saw this. This moment when I was- You know… With the Heart.”

Catra’s grip tightened. She didn’t say anything, but her eyebrows pinched in concern. “And it was just- It was really jarring. Because back then, this moment, this  _ exact _ moment had been all I wanted. All I had ever wanted for myself, in my entire life. And I was worried that maybe all of this was just a dream? Winning the war, restoring magic to the universe… You.”

Adora took a deep breath, feeling the panic finally settle in. Her grips on Catra’s hands tightened, her chest clenching painfully. She dropped her gaze from her partner’s face as tears stung the corners of her eyes. “What if we’re still there, in the Heart? And I’m dying and you’re clinging to my body and Horde Prime is destroying Etheria and-”

“Whoa, whoa,” Catra pulled back her hands. One settled on Adora’s shoulder. The other slipped under her chin. “Breathe, Adora. Breathe with me.”

They took a few seconds to inhale and exhale until Adora’s breathing matched Catra’s. They had done this so many times over their life together. Both for Adora and for Catra. Adora remembered the time without Catra, how hard it had been to reel the panic in, to calm herself long enough to remember to breathe. It had been lonely.

Eventually, Catra’s grip on her shoulder loosened. Adora slumped forward, the tiara digging into her skin as she pressed her face into the nook of Catra’s neck. Catra slowly dragged her fingers through Adora’s hair. How long had they been there? Were Glimmer and Bow still waiting for them or had they teleported ahead?

She asked Catra, but Catra just shook her head a bit. “Don’t worry about that,” she whispered. “It’s okay.”

Adora bit her lip. She pulled back. Catra’s heterochromatic eyes darted between both of Adora’s. The hand in her hair came back to her cheek, swiping gently at was likely a tear. “This is real, Adora.”

Adora wanted to scream, but she swallowed it down. “But how do you  _ know  _ that?”

“What, you don’t trust my judgement?” Catra raised an eyebrow as the beginnings of a smile twinged at her lips. “I thought we decided that I’m always right after that debacle on Reathin.”

Reathin. The memory came back to Adora easily. They had ended up in a sticky situation, quite literally. Adora had thrashed around in the black ooze until Catra stopped her by pointing out that it worked faster if they moved. She chuckled at the thought and gave Catra a light shove. “ _ I _ was the one that got us out of those tar pits.”

The edges of Catra’s eyes crinkled with her smile. “Oh yeah. I was getting that junk out of my tail for weeks.”

“That’s because you refuse to stand in the shower for more than three minutes.”

Catra pouted, though she would never admit it, as her thumb continued to swipe aimlessly over Adora’s cheek. “The day they invent waterless showers will be a glorious one indeed.”

Adora laughed as she leaned into Catra’s touch. “You could bring it up to Entrapta.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” she said. “I could. At the party we absolutely don’t have to go to.”

Adora knew that was being genuine. That if Adora asked, they would just change right into their pajamas and curl up under their covers. That Catra would personally apologize to Scorpia for not attending. That Scorpia would understand because that’s just how she was. That Glimmer and Bow would probably leave the ball early and the four of them would set up a mess of blankets and pillows on the floor and they would gorge themselves on cake and tell scary stories that didn’t really seem all that scary anymore.

Adora knew that all of her friends would still love her if she decided she wasn’t up for going. That Catra would still love her if she decided to stay home.

And maybe that was what finally settled it in. That this was real. All of this was real. Mara’s words echoed in Adora’s mind from not so long ago.  _ You deserve love too _ , she had said despite never truly knowing Adora.

Even now, Adora was still grappling with that concept. Maybe she would for the rest of her life. But she remembered the laughter of Glimmer. She heard the soft scolding of Bow. She imagined Scorpia’s hugs and the floral scent that always followed Perfuma. She could see Kyle and Rogelio holding hands. See all of her friends, from both her Horde life and her Rebellion life, gathered together, excited to see her, to talk to her, to  _ love _ her. 

In that moment, she felt Catra’s hands against her skin, saw the light in her mismatched eyes, heard the promise in her voice. And in that moment, whether it would last forever or not, believed in what Mara had said.

“No,” Adora said, smiling warmly at Catra before leaning their foreheads together. Catra melted against her like she always did, a purr building in her throat. “I’m ready.”

She startled when Catra gripped the back of her neck. But the kiss, though short, was searing and warm and so full of love that Adora was afraid she might burst. When Catra pulled back, she grinned. “I love you, you idiot.”

Adora glared at her for just a moment before tackling her to the floor with another kiss that devolved into a laugh only a second later. Adora propped herself up, hovering above Catra. Her Catra. “I love you too.”

Catra dragged her back down.

And well, needless to say, they were just a little late to Scorpia’s ball after all.


End file.
